Misadventures in Babysitting
by Rawr it's Kizami
Summary: Tyson is a mini-typhoon. Hilary is a bratty princess. Kai doesn't like to be touched. Ray keeps crying. Max hates the dinner. Kenny likes to play with the mermaid dolls just a little too much. What are three babysitters to do? Complete?
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer**: If I owned any of the Beyblade characters or the Beyblade enterprise thingy, I wouldn't be writing this, nope. Instead, I would be in my multi-million dollar mansion with my *coughfifteencough* cats. Also, I don't own the fic that this fic is based on.

**Summary:** Ever wonder what they were like as children?

**Note:** I have no idea what Kenny's last name is, but his Japanese name is Manabu Saien, so I'll so with Saien as his surname. Also, I mean NO OFFENSE in anyway to Hilary's character, but, hey, she's a little girl here, okay? A stereotypical little girl, too, mind you.

**Timeline**: Ah, for the most part, this is an Alternate Universe where everyone is a child! That is, except for new babysitters Brooklyn, Garland, and Hiro.

**Important Note: **This fic is based on a Gundam Wing fic that I read a couple of years ago. It's called "The Babysitter: The Sleepover" parts one through five, by Yoiko and Tzigane. Anyway, the fic was written over nine years ago, and this one is written without the permission of the original authors, and I feel guilty about it, but I'd also feel guilty if I went and asked them because I feel that I'd be bothering them (did I mention that the fic was written over nine years ago?). Dilemma, dilemma… but if you guys feel that I should ask the original authors, I'll try my best to! (Maybe they have different e-mail addresses from the ones posted with the fic… hmm.)

**Warning**: There might be (desired) yaoi implications :x Interpret it as you will, but definitely enjoy!

**Misadventures in Babysitting  
**by Rawr It's Kizami

The First Job: New Year's Eve  
Part One

Brooklyn let a shaky sigh escape his lips. He couldn't believe he had let Garland and Hiro, his two best friends, con him into THIS. Out of all their moneymaking schemes, THIS seemed to top it all, including the time they tried to start a teenage party catering service and accidentally mixed up the guacamole dip with pistachio ice cream (who knew that the hosts and partygoers were not too fond of guacamole ice cream and melted pistachio dip?).

Oh no, this was the absolute epitome of sucky teenage jobs.

Hiro Granger had told his mother that they would be 'more than happy' (his exact words, as the orange-haired teen recalled) to babysit for the sleepover his little brother and his friends were having at Ray's house as their parents sauntered off to the dinner party at the Kingston house that Brooklyn's mother made her son spend all morning running around the house cleaning for.

Brooklyn silently cursed himself. He knew what a handful each of the children were individually (Hilary and Tyson, in particular, were just bundles of trouble wrapped into tiny packages), but all together in one house for a whole night? He had a gut feeling that the three of them were going to be in deep duty.

But the pay from each of the households was terrific.

Even prodigies need money, Brooklyn thought bitterly.

From his right, Garland covered the edge of his mouth with his hand and whispered to Hiro, "You don't think Brooklyn's thinking of killing us do you? He's got the look on his face."

"...I think I have more pressing matters to attend to," Hiro replied, his mother's death grip on his other ear.

"Hiro, dear," she was saying, trying to keep her grip on Tyson, who was trying desperately to free himself, "Watch your brother especially tonight. You know how unruly he is."

"Yes, mother."

"Mrs. Kon tells me there's plenty of food in the fridge, and some canned food in the cupboards if you boys don't want to cook anything. Don't wait up!"

Mr. Granger kneeled down in front of his youngest son and held his shoulders. "Tyson... behave yourself."

"Do I hafta?"

"Yes, you have to."

"Okay, Dad," Tyson replied. His dad smiled, not noticing that the little boy's fingers were crossed behind his back.

Meanwhile, Max tried desperately to free himself from his mother's hug. With each squirm, Judy Tate held on tighter. After a few more additional squeezes, she finally freed Max.

"Be good tonight, Maxie," Mrs. Tate told him. "I'll pick you up tomorrow. Have fun with your friends."

Max looked up at his mother with big, bright, blue eyes. "Yeth, mum." His speech supported a slight lisp, but unlike Kenny, he rather liked the advantages his speech impediment gave him. After all, adults usually fell for his cuteness, but when that failed, they just couldn't say 'no' to his cute little 'th'es.

"Kenny... let... go... of... mommy's... leg..." Mrs. Saien pried her son off her and held his hand. Kenny, being the youngest and the smallest of the group, was always reluctant to be apart from his mother.

"I'll see you in the morning, okay, Kennypoo?" Mrs. Saien picked her son up into her arms, walked up to the nearest babysitter, which happened to be Brooklyn, and handed Kenny to the orange-haired teen, snapping him out of his murderous thoughts.

"Take good care of Kenny," she told him before leaving.

Brooklyn looked at the little boy, no older than four years old, in his arms. He couldn't exactly see his eyes, but he could see a pair of spectacles seemingly floating above the boy's bangs.

Mrs. Kon gave her son's forehead a light kiss, told him to be good, shared a few words with the babysitters, and walked out as, across the room, a tall, dark figure leaned over a small boy with slate-gray hair for a few minutes and left. Kai walked over to the three babysitters, his scarf trailing on the floor behind him.

"Grandfather says you guys are the babysitters," Kai said.

"That's right," Garland replied.

"I don't need a babysitter," Kai stated proudly. "I can take care of myself."

"Kai's a big boy!" Tyson shouted as he ran over to the little Russian and grabbed his hand.

"Let go!" Kai yelled, a little whinier than he had intended. "I don't wanna hold hands!"

Meanwhile, Hilary looked up at her parents with big, gleaming innocent brown eyes. "I'll be good," she told them cutely.

Her father smiled and gave her a gentle pat on the head while her mother said, "That's our little princess."

As soon as her parents were out of the door, their little princess immediately ran over to Kai and promptly grabbed his other hand. "Hi, Kai!" she greeted loudly.

"Stop it!" Kai shouted.

"Come on, Kai! Let's hold hands!"

"Don't touch me!"

"Go away, Hilary, I was here first!" Tyson stated matter of factly and giving Kai's arm a nice, hard tug. "I'm holding Kai's hand!"

Just like that, Kai unwillingly became the rope in Tyson and Hilary's game of tug-of-war. "STOP IT! LET GO OF ME!" the little boy wailed.

As Brooklyn's eyes were fixated on the three children, Kenny started to squirm in his arms. He wanted to be put down with a passion, but this babysitter just wouldn't let him go! He paused and reconsidered his situation for a bit. After a little bit of thought, Kenny settled for yelling in Brooklyn's ear.

"Ice cweam!"

"Ice cream!" the other children chimed in. "I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice cream!"

Brooklyn's head began to throb with the familiar pain that one of Hiro's money-making schemes usually provided. Garland promptly ducked into the kitchen and made himself look busy. Having to deal with a bunch of kids was hard enough, but having to deal with a bunch of screaming kids was a whole other thing.

Hiro, on the other hand, picked up Max and strictly told the children, "You can have ice cream after dinner." He gave a curt nod toward the kitchen, and he and the other babysitter walked in.

Brooklyn suddenly felt a light tug at his pant leg. He looked down and saw big yellow eyes staring up at him. "Please?" Ray asked sweetly. "We want ice cream."

"Ice cweam!"

"Ithe cream!"

"Ice cream!"

"Ice cream!" Tyson shouted with a tug of Kai's arm.

"ICE CREAM!" Hilary, not wanting to be beaten in a screaming contest by Tyson, shouted back with a tug of her own.

"Stop it!" Garland shouted as he rummaged through the cabinets. Before she left, Mrs. Kon had clearly told him that there was canned food somewhere in here.

"ICE CREAM!" Tyson screamed anyway.

By now, the only ones still shouting were Tyson and Hilary, still deeply immersed in their tug-of-war/screaming contest. Kai shouted a periodic "don't touch me!" and "let go of me!" every now and then, but his protests were constantly drowned out by the louder voices of his two assailants.

Finally finding something, Garland took out five large cans of Spaghetti-Os and set them on the counter.

Taking notice of the cans, Tyson promptly gave a shout of "I hate Spaghetti-Os!" and lost his grip on Kai, causing both Kai and Hilary to tumble to the floor.

"You did that on purpose!" Hilary wailed. "Poor Kai, did the bad boy hurt you?"

Rolling his eyes, Brooklyn set Kenny on the floor and told Hiro to get the children drinks while he prepared the dinner. Not bothering to argue with Brooklyn's bossy tone, Hiro set Max on the floor and handed the orange-haired babysitter a mixing spoon on his way to the refrigerator. Garland, having designated a task for himself, began to set the table.

Max, who liked to help, tugged on Brooklyn's pant leg frantically. "I'll thtir!" he called. "I'll thtir!"

"NO!" snapped Brooklyn, which made the large sapphire eyes begin to pool with tears. He immediately thrust the mixing spoon into the hands of a confused Garland and knelt on his knees. "I'm sorry," he cooed, patting Max's hair. "I didn't mean to."

While Brooklyn had his hands full with a tearing Max Tate and Garland was suddenly thrust into the position of head chef, Hiro put the bottle of apple juice he discovered on the counter and found himself left with the job of putting the children into their seats; not an easy task when two of said children were Tyson Granger and Hilary Tachibana.

With a deep breath, Hiro Granger snatched up Hilary in the middle of her argument with Tyson and attempted to put her in a chair. "Hold STILL!" he told the struggling child.

"I'm waiting for Kai!" she shouted, still squirming.

With a final pat to Max's head, Brooklyn stood up and opened the fresh bottle of apple juice.

"I want apple juithe," Max told the orange haired babysitter as he watched him look through the cabinets for cups.

"I want some miwk," Kenny added.

Having given up on Hilary, Hiro put Ray and Max into their seats first as he told Brooklyn, "Kai's sports bottle should be in his bag and Ray's cup is in one of the cabinets. The other kids can use cups like Ray's."

Nodding in acknowledgement, Brooklyn left the kitchen to retrieve said sports bottle.

From his seat, Max watched as his fluffy-haired babysitter reentered the room, his eyes fixated on the full head of orange hair. He had the sudden urge to ruffle it, and the color reminded him of extremely concentrated orange juice. "I'm thirthy."

"Get them some drinks," ordered Garland, who was plating Ray's food first and deliberately giving the boy less since Hiro had informed him that the little boy would want more even if he were full. "Make sure you put his top on nice and tight. We don't want a spillage on our hands."

Kai, who had been placed in his seat by Hiro, took offense to Garland's last statement. He crossed his arms defiantly and countered, "I do not spill!"

"Of course you don't," Tyson cooed, giving Kai's back a nice pat. "How could anyone possibly spill with a sports bottle?"

"Don't touch me!" he shouted again.

Hilary, from her seat away from Kai, gasped and shouted, "Don't worry, Kai, I won't let the bad boy hurt you!" She leaped off her chair and made a mad dash for the Russian boy.

Kai's eyes went wide and he jumped to the floor, where he broke into a run away from Hilary, who was desperately chasing after him. The two children ran out of the kitchen, leaving Tyson standing at the kitchen doorway screaming, "Don't worry, Kai! I'll protect you! Once you guys come back!"

Moments later, Kai staggered back into the kitchen with Hilary at his heels.

"Poor Kai!" she squealed, grasping the soft, white scarf trailing behind the boy. "I'll make it all better!" In a flash, Hilary had her arms wrapped tightly around Kai, whose eyes grew to the size of watermelons.

"DON'T TOUCH ME!" he wailed as he ran and buried his face in the corner.

"Hiwawy's mean," Kenny commented.

"I'm a lady!" Hilary screeched in response. "And ladies aren't mean!"

"You're not a lady!" Tyson shouted.

The three babysitters exchanged glances with one another. Garland nudged Brooklyn and whispered, "Do something."

Sighing, Brooklyn walked over to the corner and patted Kai comfortingly on the back. "There there, Kai," he said soothingly. "There there."

"Make them leave me alone," Kai pleaded, grabbing onto the collar of Brooklyn's shirt. He relaxed his grip and straightened himself. "I have to go wash up," he told him as he left for the bathroom with determination to watch off all the cooties.

Max, from his seat next to Kenny, stared down at his plate with an unhappy expression on his face. "I don't like Thpaghetti-O'th," the little blonde said unhappily.

"I know," Kenny said, an idea suddenly popping into his head. "We'ww eat the gween beans owr anything ewse they give us. We can move the Spaghetti-Os awound to make it wook wike we ate some."

"Okay," Max agreed happily. Unfortunately for the two of them, they didn't know that there wasn't going to be anything else.

Brooklyn struggled to seat Hilary, who kept squirming and shouting, "I have to check on Kai!"

Tyson, who had already been seated prior to Hilary, leaped to the floor and announced haughtily, "I'LL check on Kai!" Before anyone, especially Hilary, could object, the young blue-haired boy rushed to the bathroom.

The sounds of Tyson being turned away by Kai echoed into the kitchen, where the babysitters glanced nervously at one another. Promptly, the three of them pulled out their fists. One, two, three.

Brooklyn cursed under his breath. Why did he always pick rock? As he wandered to the bathroom, Hiro and Garland smirked and gave a silent fist-bump to each other. Brooklyn always picked rock no matter what.

Seconds later, Brooklyn returned and put Tyson and Kai into their seats, which, upon a quick survey of the table, left the babysitters with nowhere to sit.

"Kai!" Hilary squealed. "You came back to me!" Her arms were outstretched, ready to wrap themselves around Kai for the second time.

Kai instinctively withdrew away from her. "Touch me and… and…!"

"What?" Hilary challenged. "You can't do anything!"

Kai's eyes flew around the table and eventually landed on his spoon. He immediately picked up his Spaghetti-O'd laden spoon and trained it on Hilary. "Touch me and you get a hair full of Spaghetti-Os!" Before Tyson's finger could land on his shoulder, Kai spun around and targeted the spoon at him. "That goes double for you!"

"No flinging food, Kai," Garland told him sternly. He turned to the rest of the table's occupants. "And nobody touch him or your nose is going in the corner."

"He'th cranky," Max commented.

"He needs a nap," Ray added.

"A wong nap," Kenny corrected.

"Stop talking about me!" Kai shouted, eyes wide with paranoia and spoon at the ready.

"Definitewy cwanky," Kenny whispered to Max as the two boys giggled amongst themselves, careful to not let Kai hear.

Hilary, feeling mischievous, lifted a finger and jabbed it into Kai's arm.

"DON'T TOUCH ME!" the boy screamed as he ran back to the bathroom.

"It's the corner for you, missy!" Hiro stated as he plucked her from her chair and stuck her nose in the corner.

"Hilary and Tyson are bad," Ray told him with Spaghetti-Os smeared all over his face, hands and plate. He turned quickly to the nearest babysitter, which happened to be Garland, and said, "More please!"

"You can't put me in the corner!" Hilary squalled. "I'll tell my daddy on you! And he's bigger than you! And he'll beat you up! And I'll laugh!"

Tyson snickered loudly and pointed his finger at Hilary. "Hilary's a corner-nose! Hilary's a corner-nose!"

The three babysitters stuck out their fists for the second time that night. One, two three. Rock, silent curses, fist-bump. Brooklyn exhaled sharply and left the kitchen.

"I hate you all!" Hilary screamed. "Except Kai!"

Taking a deep breath, Brooklyn knocked gently on the door. "Kai?"

"Go away."

"Kai-"

"Go away."

Shaking his head, Brooklyn pushed the door open in time to see Kai rubbing his eyes dry. Had he been crying? That certainly didn't last very long, he thought. "Come on out, Kai," he said calmly.

"No!" Kai protested passionately. "I'm staying here 'til my grampa comes in the morning."

Brooklyn gave the small child a knowing smile and said, "If you come eat dinner, I promise to sit you between Max and Ray."

Kai thought about his proposal for a while. It wouldn't be so bad if he sat to next to people who didn't touch him. He uttered a small "okay" and left the bathroom.

Unexpectedly, on the way back to the kitchen, he grabbed Brooklyn's hand and pleaded desperately for a small boy his age, "Just don't let them touch me anymore."

(To be continued.)

What do you think? Also, I apologize for those Hilary fans out there. I don't have anything against her, I just needed someone to be the stereotypical trouble making little girl who happens to not get along with the other stereotypical troublemaker, which, in this case is Tyson.

Please tell me what you think! And what you think I should do. :)


	2. Chapter 2

******Special Thanks to Katmonty and Blackstarz: **Thanks for reviewing! :3 I'm glad you guys like it! Alsooo, there's no KaixBrooklyn implications (I don't think anyway), so no worries!**  
**

**Misadventures in Babysitting  
**by Rawr It's Kizami

The First Job: New Year's Eve  
Part Two

Before they reached the kitchen, Kai quickly withdrew his hand from Brooklyn's. He couldn't have the others see him allow another person to blatantly defy his strict "no touching" policy.

Once the two entered the room, they couldn't help but drop their jaws in shock at the spectacle before them; Hilary still squalling non-stop from her corner, Ray demanding more Spaghetti-Os, Kenny and Max intentionally smearing their food all over their plates, and Tyson standing on his chair yelling.

"Woohoo!" Tyson cheered, pumping a sauce-covered fist in the air. "I love this stuff!"

"I thought you hated it," Brooklyn muttered under his breath as he wandered over to his fellow babysitters. "Why weren't you guys watching the kids?"

Garland rose from the floor with a yellow-stained paper towel in his hand. "I was busy cleaning up this mess Hilary made."

Brooklyn crinkled his nose in disgust and said, "She didn't…"

Garland tossed the paper towel into the trash and turned back to Brooklyn. "Oh yes, she did," he replied. "The WHOLE bottle of apple juice."

Sighing, the orange-haired babysitter turned to his blue-haired companion. "What about you?"

"I was trying to get Tyson to eat," Hiro replied, jerking a thumb in his younger brother's direction. "You can see how well that turned out."

Brooklyn was afraid to look, but forced himself and immediately regretted doing so. The little hurricane had so much food on his clothes, face, hands, and hat, that it was a miracle he had eaten any at all, let alone have been able to leave some on the plate. "What a mess," he breathed unhappily.

"All right!" Garland shouted suddenly, stepping toward the table. "All right, all right! Everybody be quiet!"

Five pairs of wide eyes stared up at Garland.

"I will NOT be quiet!" the sixth child screamed from the corner. "I HATE ALL OF YOU! EXCEPT KAI!"

"You!" Garland growled through gritted teeth. "You are going in a room all by yourself!" He turned to the rest of the children and continued, "And the rest of you! I'll be back to deal with the rest of you shortly." He plucked the screaming child from the corner and, with a stern "I'll be RIGHT BACK" left the kitchen.

Brooklyn hesitantly stepped forward and replaced Ray in Hilary's abandoned seat. When he picked up Kai and sat him in Ray's former chair, a full on pout had crept onto the grey-haired child's face. He didn't want to eat off a used plate!

"I think Garland'th cranky," Max whispered to Kenny.

Kenny gasped and held a small hand to his mouth in surprise. "He's the babysittew! He's not supposed to be cwanky."

An awkward silence fell over the room as they all watched Brooklyn and Hiro finish cleaning up the apple juice spill Garland had left behind.

"I want more juice," Ray declared, showing his empty cup to Brooklyn's back in an attempt to get his attention.

Brooklyn sighed and passed Kai his plate as he picked up Ray's sippy cup. He refilled it with the spare apple juice in the refrigerator and popped the top back on with a satisfying 'click' before handing it back to the little boy and turning to Hiro hurriedly. After several back-and-forth hushed whispers of "do you think he actually killed her?" and "no, I'm sure it's fine", the two remaining babysitters left the kitchen in a rush.

"Was thirsty," Ray assured Kai after he took a happy sip.

"Me too," Kai replied, taking a spoonful of Spaghetti-Os into his mouth. He didn't really care for Spaghetti-Os, but his grandfather had instilled the policy of always cleaning his plate into his head, so Kai ate his food stoically and tried to not make a face when he encountered the crunchy parts.

"Do you like it?" Tyson asked cheerfully. "I added some chocolate sprinkles for flavor."

"Better than a finger in the eye," Kai responded, forcing himself to down another spoonful of Spaghetti-Os and chocolate sprinkles.

"So you DO like my cooking!" Tyson cheered happily. He leaned forward in his seat and added hopefully, "Can I have a kiss?"

"NO!"

"You probably have cooties," Ray teased.

"I do NOT have cooties!" Tyson shouted back, taking serious offense.

"How do we know you're not a girl?" Max challenged childishly.

"I'm a boy!" Tyson countered hotly. "All boy!" Without a second thought, he yanked down his pants and defiantly yelled, "SEE?"

Max and Kenny immediately covered each other eyes as Kai turned his head away and Ray gaped with his mouth hanging open in horror just as Hiro returned to the kitchen.

"Tyson," came the frustrated voice of his elder brother, "Why are your pants DOWN?"

"Uh…" Tyson stuttered.

"He wath thawing uth his PEE-PEE!" Max cried. "Tython wath BAD!"

"I'm not bad!" Tyson countered defensively, turning to his brother desperately. "They called me a girl, so I had to show I wasn't! They said I have cooties!"

Hiro rubbed his temples. "Shh," he hushed furiously. "Ray, you can have some more Spaghetti-Os, but not too much," he stated emphatically as he dropped the pot onto the table. He snatched Tyson into his arms and said, "You're coming with me. I know mom left another set of clothes for you."

"There's nothing wrong with the clothes I got on!" Tyson protested as he was carried out. "I wanna stay! Kai was gonna let me kiss him!"

"Was not!" Kai yelped. Suddenly, his eyes started to water and his throat was on fire; he was choking on his Spaghetti-Os and chocolate sprinkles!

"You thouldn't breathe your food," Max told him as sternly as he could while Ray reached over and gave the Russian child a hearty pound on the back.

"Siwwy Kai," Kenny commented.

"Here, have something to drink," Ray said, nudging over Kai's sports bottle.

Kai hungrily grabbed his bottle and swallowed a mouthful of milk.

And immediately gagged.

"What did he do to the milk?" he choked out.

"Thalt, I think," Max said. "It'th all over the table, anyway."

Kai stifled a sniffle and sadly rubbed at his eyes. He didn't want to cry in front of everyone, but why did Tyson have to be so mean to him? He took a deep, shaky breath and forced himself to choke down another mouthful of Spaghetti-Os and chocolate sprinkles before washing it down with a sip of salty milk.

"You don't have to eat that," Ray offered, standing up on his chair with his spoon held tightly in his hand. He reached down into the pot and spooned out some Spaghetti-Os. "You can share this with me instead. This one doesn't have chocolate sprinkles."

"Thank you, Ray," Kai said thankfully in a quivering voice as he stood up to eat a share of Spaghetti-Os. It was Ray's house, after all, and if Ray said he didn't have to finish his plate, then it must be true.

"AHHHH! NOOOOO! STOP IT! STOOOOOOPPPPP! I HATE IT WHEN YOU WASH MY HAIR!"

"You have sauce in it!" came Hiro's thundering voice.

"HELP! HE'S KILLING MEEEEE!"

Kenny froze, wide eyed. He sent a questioning glance at Max. "Do you think he's weawwy kiwwing him?"

Max shrugged, his expression mirroring that of Kenny's. "I dunno… but Mither Hiro thure wath cranky!"

Ray licked his spoon clean and checked the last spoonful before looking at Kai. "Do you want it?" he asked politely, despite Tyson's deafening screams echoing throughout the house.

Kai hesitated. "…Did the babysitters get any yet?" he asked, suddenly concerned about them. Despite his unsatiated hunger, Kai didn't want the babysitters to get even crankier.

"Oooh," Max and Kenny intoned.

"You ate aww the babysittews' food," Kenny said.

Ray's lip began to quiver and his eyes grew watery. "W-we won't get in trouble," he sputtered. "Mister Hiro said it was okay… and he always gives me more…"

Kai peered into the pot at the last couple of pieces and, as if considering the matter, slowly shifted his gaze to his chocolate sprinkled plate. "Just in case," he said suddenly.

"I don't wanna get in trouble," Ray whimpered shakily.

"We could give them Hilary's," Kai suggested.

"Tyson ate Hiwawy's awweady," Kenny told them unhappily.

"But then there'th alwayth yourth, Kai!" Max suggested hopefully.

"If we mush it all together," Ray said shakily as the other three dumped the contents of their plates into the pot, "maybe they won't see that Tyson messed up Kai's."

"Let's pick out the sprinkles," Kai said, indicating the sorry-looking mixture sitting at the bottom of the pot.

"Hurry!" Max shouted as four pairs of hands dove at once into the pot frantically.

When Brooklyn and Hiro returned to the room, all four of its young occupants were at least partially smeared in bits of Spaghetti-Os and sauce, and were each suspiciously trying to avoid making eye contact with the pot. With great uneasiness, Brooklyn hesitantly looked into the pot and tried to breathe calmly as he clenched his teeth. The pot contained mashed pieces of Spaghetti-Os with a few abandoned chocolate sprinkles drizzled on top.

"Just what, I ask of you," Brooklyn asked with as much calm as he could muster, "is THAT?"

"It's Spaghetti-Os," Ray answered tentatively, traces of tears shimmering in his eyes. "It's GOOD Spaghetti-Os!"

"That does not look like good Spaghetti-Os to me," Brooklyn said, rubbing his temples. "What did you kids do to it?"

"TYSON DID IT!" four voices cried in unison.

"Why am I not surprised?" Hiro muttered under his breath.

Kai stared at the two babysitters. He was desperate to ask for more food, but he was certain that if he did, Brooklyn and Hiro would absolutely explode, and he did not want THAT to happen.

"Uh, you don't wanna drink the milk either," Kai added tentatively.

"Children," the exasperated voice of Garland said from the doorway as its owner walked in rubbing his temples. "We are beginning to get upset with you."

Brooklyn rubbed his temples and sighed. "Children," he said, "I want all of you to be on your BEST behavior for the rest of the night. That means no playing with food, no making messes, no doing anything that you wouldn't want your parents to know about, because we WILL tell them. Okay?" When four heads nodded in agreement and downcast eyes were raised to meet his gaze, the fiery-haired babysitter visibly relaxed.

"Good," he continued on a much lighter tone, "Max and Kenny, I want the two of you to get ready for a bath. Do you mind taking a bath together?"

"I have to have a bath by myself!" Kai spoke up promptly, eyes wide in near panic.

"We don't mind tharing," Max said happily.

"We wike taking baths togethew," Kenny added.

The two small boys were soon walking in the direction of the bathroom, Spaghetti-O smeared hand in Spaghetti-O smeared hand.

"Can I have my toys?" Ray asked hopefully, soon forgetting that he was near tears moments earlier. "I'm sorry that Tyson was bad and I'm sorry that me and Kai ate all the food." He pouted. "But Mister Hiro always gives me more and he said 'Ray, you can have some more' and I thought…"

"He didn't mean ALL of it," Brooklyn stated regretfully.

"Can I still have my toys?" Ray asked again, more hopeful this time.

"Yes, Ray, you can have your toys."

"And you'll bathe me!"

Brooklyn sighed. "And I'll bathe you."

"I don't need anyone to bathe me!" Kai shouted protectively.

The red-haired teenager shook his head. "You're still little. I'll bathe you, too."

"NO!" Kai protested passionately.

"Kai doesn't like to be bathed," Ray told him as he watched Brooklyn clean up the mess they had made. "He doesn't want anyone to see him NAKED."

"Don't say that word!" Kai gasped, covering himself with his hands.

"Fine," Brooklyn said, grabbing more paper towels. "Kai can bathe himself. But you're not allowed to lock the door. No one will walk in on you."

"Ha!" Kai cried. "Yes they will!"

"You have to leave the door unlocked so that if anything bad happens we can come in and help you," Garland told him as he wiped Tyson's dirty chair clean.

"But they'll come in when I'm in the bath and they'll SEE me!" Kai whined. "Can't I just skip the bath?"

"No," Brooklyn replied strictly. "You all got Spaghetti-Os all over the place. You are all getting baths, except Hilary. Garland… will stand and watch the door for you…?" He shot his friend a questioning glance for agreement, only to have Garland shake his head vigorously. He turned back to the small boy and said, "Hiro will watch the door for you."

"Tyson and Hilary were bad," Ray piped suddenly, beginning to fret. "Can I have a cookie? I didn't get ice cream and I really want a cookie and I've been good… sorta…"

Hiro turned to Garland and asked hurriedly, "Wait, where's Hilary?"

"In the master bedroom."

"…You left her there ALONE?"

"Uh…" the silver-haired babysitter stuttered out. "Well, I heard some commotion here and, being the good babysitter that I am, I decided to check it out."

"You left Hilary in the room ALONE!" Hiro reiterated loudly.

"Can I have a cookie?" Ray asked again.

"Uh, you said that already," Garland pointed out meekly, grabbing the plate of sesame cookies Ray's mother had made that morning and setting it in the middle of the table in a feeble attempt to avoid the raging blue-haired boy's gaze.

"ALONE!" Hiro repeated emphatically. "Tyson's Spaghetti-O clothes are in there!"

The gears in Garland's head suddenly sprang into motion as everything clicked into place. He immediately ran from the kitchen and seconds later, his voice rang out, "HILARY! What kind of a LADY are you?"

Brooklyn and Hiro immediately broke into a sprint toward the bedroom.

"She's no lady," Ray said to Kai as he grabbed a cookie. "Hilary's a…"

Kai gasped. "Ray!"

"She is!" Ray told him with great emphasis. "She's a very nasty little girl!" He nodded strongly. "I disapprove of her!"

"I disapprove of cooties," Kai agreed.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -  
Brooklyn and Hiro entered the master bedroom and immediately wished they hadn't; everything from the carpet to the walls were covered in Spaghetti-Os and a conspicuous red stain, and the vanity belonging to Mrs. Kon was a mess with a tube of crimson lipstick strangely worn down and suspiciously missing a cap. The absolute worst of it all was that everything in the bedroom had once been a bright, clean shade of pristine white.

"I WON'T CLEAN IT UP!" Hilary screeched at Garland.

"Yes, you will!" Garland shouted, his nerves on edge.

Brooklyn rubbed his temples. All this screaming and shouting was giving him a headache, and it wasn't going to get the once pristinely white room of Mr. and Mrs. Kon any cleaner.

"You are so shrill," Garland muttered.

"I'm a LADY!" she shrieked. "And ladies are not SHRILL!"

Brooklyn sucked in a big breath and tried counting to ten calmly. This night was getting longer, and longer.

(To Be Continued).

I hope you guys liked this chapter! (: Tell me what you think!

I also changed it slightly (only slightly) cause I realized that with this change, it makes MUCH more sense logically later.


	3. Chapter 3

**crazingonbeyblade111: **I love Brooklyn too! lol He's so awesome.

**Kitty Kat K.O.:** I'm glad you enjoyed it so much! I can't take all the credit for it though, since it was inspired by this fic I read a long time ago.

**Yoko Fujioka: **Haha, I have to agree, Kenny and Max are super adorable (: I just couldn't imagine their little kid selves without lisps.

**coolperson: **I kinda felt bad at first about having Hilary as the bratty little girl, but as it went on it was kind of like "wow, this IS Hilary!"

**Blackstarz: **I'm sure Garland had the same idea about the closet and the shovel lol but he DOES want his babysitting money.

**JST: **I'm not sure if I'm going to continue on with Kai's 'no touching' thing, but for now, he just doesn't like to be touched much (especially by Tyson and Hilary, the poor pet)

**Misadventures in Babysitting**

The First Job: New Year's Eve  
Part Three

As the situation boiling in the master bedroom only worsened, the two children abandoned in the kitchen were busily absorbed in a highly philosophical debate. Ray was happily slurping on his refilled cup of apple juice, which he had proudly poured for himself and, rather unfortunately for the babysitters, had spilled onto the floor. On the upside, the five year old hadn't gotten any onto himself, so that was good!

"Not all girls have cooties," Ray argued.

"Yes they do," Kai countered flatly, taking a nibble of his cookie.

"My mommy doesn't have cooties," Ray told him.

"Mamas are special," Kai corrected.

Ray nodded in agreement as the two boys continued to munch on their sesame cookies.

"OKAY, THAT'S IT!" Garland's voice roared. "HILARY, CLEAN UP THIS MESS RIGHT NOW!"

"See? Hilary probably got cooties all over your mama and dad's bed," Kai declared triumphantly, his mouth full of cookie.

Ray's face paled. "Cooties on DADDY'S BED? It's all white. He gets cranky sometimes when mommy is 'womanly.' I don't know what that means except that she's cranky, too."

At that moment, Garland furiously entered the kitchen, seriously contemplating about whether or not they would notice if he killed Hilary and buried her body under the rose bushes. Grabbing the roll of paper towels, he banished the thought of murder from his mind. After all, if she went missing, they might not pay him his share of the babysitting fee.

"Mister Garland, are you mad?" Ray asked hesitantly.

The babysitter's expression visibly softened. "Not at you two," he answered, refilling the quickly disappearing plate of cookies with another handful. "You guys just stay here and keep being good, okay? As soon as we get," he paused and sighed sharply, "Hilary and Tyson settled, we can watch a movie."

"300?" Kai asked hopefully.

"Toy Story?" Ray asked simultaneously.

"We'll decide in a little while," Garland replied after a second of hesitation. He greened a little at the thought of a child Kai's age watching 300. "Enjoy your cookies, okay?"

"Okay!" two happy voices chimed as Garland braced himself for his return to ground zero.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -  
As Hilary continued to shriek and squall, Brooklyn paled as he eyed the pile of once perfectly white bedding and the once pristine white carpet that was now marred with spaghetti sauce stains and red lipstick.

Tiredly, Brooklyn picked up a still screaming Hilary and walked into the hallway to deposit her nose into the corner. "You stay HERE while we clean up YOUR mess," he ordered.

"You are the world's WORST babysitters!" she yelled, crossing her arms and pouting. "I'm gonna tell my daddy on you! ALL of you! And you'll be SORRY! Do you hear me? YOU'LL BE SORRY!"

Brooklyn groaned bitterly. He could still hear her inside the room. It seemed to him that the walls actually amplified, rather than muffled, her yells and caused her voice to be louder with her outside than when they were in the same room. He gathered the stained bedding in his arms as Garland returned with paper towels and dish soap.

"I'll be right back," he told Garland. "You go try cleaning this," he ordered, holding up the once gloriously white bedding.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -  
"Do you think Garland killed them?" Ray pondered aloud. "Haven't heard any of them for a long time."

"Yeah, even Tyson," Kai agreed. "If he were alive, he'd HAVE to be making noise."

Ray nodded seriously and sipped his apple juice, still proud of his endeavor. "I hope he didn't kill Tyson in MY room," he added wistfully. His room, much like his parent's room, was solidly white. Everything in his room had it's own place and everything was usually in its place. "I'd really hate to see what he'd do to it."

"I wonder where he buried him," Kai mused.

"Maybe under the rose bushes," Ray offered. "Mister Garland likes roses."

"Maybe."

Ray stuffed the last bite of his cookie into his mouth and grabbed another one as he chewed. His mommy made the best sesame cookies!

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -  
Brooklyn gazed despondently at the orange and red stains on the Kon's bedroom carpet. He had tried everything he could think of to lift the stains: soap, dish soap, hand soap, bleach, and even club soda. Nothing worked. He decided it was time to get serious. It was time to call an expert.

Since his usual go-to cleaning expert was preoccupied tonight, there was just one other person that might have the answers he so desperately needed.

-"Hello?"-

"Coach Boris?"

-"Kingston? It's summer vacation. What do want?"-

"Oh, coach!" he cried, almost tearfully. "Hiro made me and Garland take up this babysitting job for his little brother and his friends… and Hilary… and the white sheets… and the white carpet… spaghetti sauce and lipstick stains everywhere… I tried everything! Garland's trying to figure out how to bleach the sheets, and I just can't get the stains out of the carpet!"

"I HATE YOU ALL!" Hilary continued to squall from the hallway.

-"What was that last part?"-

"Nothing, coach, just… how am I supposed to get it OUT?" he asked fretfully. "I mean, it's so white, and I don't want them to come back and be upset with us."

-"What made you think I'd suddenly be a cleaning whiz, Kingston?"-

"Well you always stressed the important of clean uniforms and gave us tips on how to keep them white, so I just thought…"

-"…Get a little detergent and mix it with a little bit of water to make a paste. They've probably got some kind of bleach or something. Anyway, smear the paste to the carpet with a damp cloth."-

"Will that work?" Brooklyn questioned.

-"If you didn't think it would work, why did you call me in the first place? Just do it. Let it settle for a while, then just brush it up."-

"Um… what about the sheets?"

-"Oh. Well, as long as Siebald remembered to pre-treat them, it should be fine with just bleach."-

"Uh… He put them in the washer to soak."

-"It'll have to do. Tell him to add half a cup of bleach. That might take care of it."-

"Might?"

-"…Maybe."-

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -  
"Or he could have put him in the garbage disposal," Ray suggested. The two of them turned simultaneously to gaze at the sink with curious eyes.

"Nah," Kai sighed. "We were in here the whole time. We would have seen it."

"Oh yeah," Ray intoned.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -  
Hiro's head throbbed as he tried to both tune out the shrieking girl and listen as Brooklyn told him how to go about cleaning carpet.

He nodded and knelt on the floor as Brooklyn left to relay the bleaching instructions to Garland.

The idea that his brother's dirty clothes and Mrs. Kon's makeup were used to redecorate the room churned his stomach. He faintly recalled being told once that, on a visit to her aunt's, Hilary had carved her cousin's name into the bedside table and up to this day, her aunt and uncle still believed that her cousin had done it.

By the time they were done cleaning room, she'd probably have their names carved into the wall, Hiro thought bitterly.

"YOU GUYS ARE THE WORST!" Hilary's voice screamed.

Sometimes Hiro really hated his job.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -  
"He could be drowned in the bathtub," Ray offered.

"But Max and Kenny are in the bath," Kai pointed out.

"Oh yeah."

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -  
Kenny sneezed suddenly and the violent release of breath caused the bubble-tower atop his head to collapse.

"Bleth you!" Max said solemnly, his pruned hands returning to work on rebuilding the sculpture.

"Excuse me!"

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -  
"I bet he's hiding in my room," Ray declared, eyes widening in curious paranoia. "I bet he's messing with MY toys!"

"We can go look…" Kai started, but upon remembrance of Garland's strict instructions, changed his mind promptly. "Oh, no we can't. Mister Garland told us to stay here."

"I bet he's making a mess!" Ray continued, growing immensely distraught at the idea.

"Or he could be dead," Kai reminded him.

"Oh yeah, that's true," Ray agreed, visibly cheering up at the thought.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -  
With a sigh, Hiro finished wiping up the remainder of the paste. Initially, it appeared to be doing some good, but after several more strong scrubs, the stains seemed to be frozen in translucency. Or perhaps it was just his frantic worry that it all wouldn't come out that was making him imagine the ever-present stains.

When he stood up, he swore he could still see the faintest of marks, but it wasn't too noticeable, and he was sure that it would be even less so after it dried.

Crisis averted. Now for the bigger challenge: to check on Tyson.

As soon as Hiro opened the door to Ray's room, his jaw dropped to the floor. "TYSON!"

"What?" Tyson answered nonchalantly, grinning up at his brother amidst a pile of stuffed animals.

The order and balance that was Ray's bedroom had been thrown out of sorts and transformed into a giant disaster area thanks to one, tiny little boy. Puzzles had been dumped in a pile on the floor, there was a page in Ray's Tigger coloring book that had been covered entirely with blue crayon (Tyson's all time favorite color), and the blue crayon was broken in half. Every book and toy from every nook and cranny had been tossed to the floor, and then there sat Tyson, in the middle of it all, beaming like he had just discovered the stash of Christmas presents at the back of the closet.

"Clean this mess up right now!" Hiro ordered. He knew that Bossy Brooklyn would be even more unhappy about this.

"I don't wanna," Tyson complained. "It's all white stuff, see? Blends in with the carpet. No mess!"

"No MESS?" Hiro repeated, feeling his anger rise. "You call this no MESS?"

Tyson blinked his huge cobalt eyes at Hiro. "Well, you DID say 'Tyson stay here and play.'" He paused for a second. "Or was it 'Tyson stay here and stay out of trouble?' I don't remember. Anyway, could you bring Kai here? I'm bored!"

"Clean this mess right NOW!"

"No!" Tyson yelled. "It's not MY room! And you're not mom!"

"You are such a brat."

"AM NOT!" Tyson shouted back. "You said stay out of trouble! And I did!"

Groaning, Hiro grabbed an armful of stuffed toy and crammed them into the bookshelf. "You call this staying out of trouble?"

"Yeah!" Tyson shouted happily. "Nobody got hurt and there are no holes in the backyard! I'm being good!"

Seething, Hiro thought back bitterly to the last time he had been left alone with his brother. Tyson had brought it upon himself to find the buried treasure of the Granger House while Hiro was busily cleaning up the mess in the kitchen he had made at dinner. There was something about putting Tyson and dinner together that just meant instant mess.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -  
Garland held a wet, screaming Hilary a full arm's length away from him. "Be STILL!" he shouted. "You have spaghetti sauce in your hair!"

Go put a half cup of bleach for the sheets, Brooklyn had said. Then go give Hilary a bath, Brooklyn had said. When Garland protested, the fiery-haired babysitter pointed a stern finger in the direction of the hallway and posed him with a very challenging inquiry that questioned Garland's will as a babysitter.

Would he rather bathe Hilary or Tyson the next time he got into a mess?

It was a tough decision, but in hindsight, Garland felt that perhaps he should have chosen Tyson instead as Hilary let out another ear-shattering shriek.

"YOU'RE A BOY!" she screamed. "Don't LOOK at me!"

"I have to bathe you!" Garland shouted back, filling the cup they used to wash the children's hair with bath water. "Whether you like it or not!"

"I'm telling my mommy you LOOKED at me!" Hilary cried.

With a growl, Garland poured the cup of water on top of her head. That stifled her screaming momentarily, but it started back again quickly with sobbing.

"I WAAAAANT MYYYY MOOOMMMMMMMMMYYYYYYYYYYYY!"

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -  
"There's always my daddy's bathroom," Ray contemplated audibly. "Mister Brooklyn could have drowned Tyson in there."

"That's true," Kai agreed. "We did hear him stomping around in there. And lots of yelling."

Unexpectedly, the notion that their babysitters were possibly murderers didn't bother the two children enough to the point that they would leave the kitchen and disobey Garland's order.

Kai shifted in his seat uncomfortably. They had been sitting there for a while, and they were nearly out of cookies. "I'm bored. I hope they finish killing Tyson soon so we can watch a movie."

"I hope he doesn't kill him in MY room."

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -  
"Tyson," Hiro growled. "Give me the crayon."

"No!" Tyson shouted, jumping onto the bed defiantly. As he jumped, the bed uttered the tell-tale squeak that sounded of rubber sheets, but he didn't pause, and just continued to jump up and down on the soft, white comforter. "You can't have it! I want it!"

"Give it to me, Tyson!"

"No!" Tyson repeated, still jumping. "And you're putting it all WRONG!"

"What do you mean by that?" Hiro asked through clenched teeth.

"I mean Ray always has everything just so," Tyson told him. "And you're putting it back all wrong."

Hiro had always known Ray to be a fanatic of order and balance, but when Tyson, the complete opposite of order and rule, was the one correcting him, well, the elder Granger son just found that flat out ironic.

"He's gonna notice!" Tyson said between bounces. "The duck goes in the top left corner of the shelf, and then the memory cards go next to that, and then the coloring books go into the middle shelf…"

For Hiro, it wasn't as hard to believe that Ray had everything in his room a certain way as much as it was for him to believe that he was actually following his little, disorganized brother's instructions.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -  
"OW!" Hilary screamed. "You're SMOTHERING me!"

"I am not smotheri- OW!" Garland snatched his hand, which now supported Hilary's bite mark, back. "You little brat!"

"I am NOT a brat!" she shrieked. "I'm a LADY!"

"Ladies," Garland said through gritted teeth, hitting each word sharply, "do not scream, shriek, bite their babysitters, or spread food and lipstick all over someone else's room!"

"I AM a lady!" she screeched, her face growing red with effort. "And you're a POOTY-BUTT MEANIE!"

That didn't help the matter any as Garland covered her head with a towel and ruffled her hair. "Shh!" he hushed. "After this I'm brushing your hair and putting you to bed!"

Whatever response Hilary made, most likely something along the lines of pootiness, was muffled by the towel and when Garland removed it, she glared poisonously at him with her face scrunched up angrily. Stifling the urge to do something he might, just might, regret later, he grabbed the comb and tried to run it through her long, snarled brown hair.

"OW!" Hilary cried, tears stinging her eyes. "STOP THAT! IT HURTS!" She slapped his hand away and burst into tears. "You made it all tangly ON PURPOSE!" she sobbed.

"No," Garland said with as much patience as he could muster, "YOU got it all tangly by fighting your bath."

"NO! YOU did it because I made a mess in Mrs. Kon's bedroom!"

"Hilary!" Garland growled exasperatedly. "You shouldn't have smeared food all over everything. Then you wouldn't have needed to be bathed! YOU made it all tangly by fighting your bath!"

"I WANT MY MOMMY!" Hilary continued to sob. "I HATE YOU! I HATE ALL OF YOU! MY DADDY'S GONNA BEAT YOU UP!"

Garland sighed. He certainly didn't ask for this job.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -  
(To be continued.)

That's the end of part three! (:

I hope you guys enjoyed it! Let me know what you guys think!


	4. Chapter 4

**coolperson: **Haha, I totally agree with the Hilary thing! And yeah, I was just thinking, "What kind of movie would Kai like to watch? Hmm… something bloody… gory maybe… How about Spartans?"

**suzanne**: Teehee, I love Ray and Kai, too! They're such obedient little boys. :3

**Phoenixfyre101**: Lol, the first time I looked at your name, I was like "Phoenix Frye? I love Channing Frye from the Phoenix Suns, too!" Sorry, basketball reference and stupidity at it's best. :s

**Blackstarz: **LOL thanks! I just thought of Toy Story 'cause Toy Story 3 just came out! :3 Weee! And as the cleaning service… well, maybe not Garland. :x It's safer for the clothes that way.

**white-tsubasa: **I can imagine Kai watching 300 like "(stare) (angry face) Why would they do that? That's not right! A much better move would have been to blah blah blah!" Sorry, my creative juices aren't, uh, juicing. lol

**Alla Bethony: **No, no, I think precious should be right, lol. Well, it certainly describes Kenny and Max, anyway. :3

**BlackRoseGirl666**: Awww, thank you! You're a killer reviewer! :)

**Misadventures in Babysitting  
**Rawr It's Kizami

The First Job: New Year's Eve  
Part Four

"Coulda been smothered with his own hat," Kai suggested, picking up the last cookie in the pile and taking a nibble out of it with an ever-so-slightly pouty look on his face. "I wish we could have ice cream."

"Me too," Ray breathed, a glum expression casted over his face. "I really hope he didn't bleed all over my carpet, too."

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -  
Hiro bit his tongue trying to refrain from shouting as he attempted to put things into their rightful places as per Tyson's instructions.

"….an' the crayons go on the desk, an' the white horse goes in the third… no, sixth… no… well, I dunno which cubby it goes into but it's not THAT one!"

"Are you just being a pest and making this up?" Hiro snapped.

Deeply offended, Tyson stopped his bouncing and jumped off the bed. "I am NOT a pest! I'm a GOOD boy! I'm HELPING!" he declared passionately.

"You are a PAIN," Hiro corrected in the tone of someone who had just run out of patience. "Just sit there QUIETLY."

"Fine!" Tyson shouted, pouting. "If you're so smart, put it all back yourself!"

"QUIETLY!" Hiro repeated.

As he continued to put everything into their cubby holes, Tyson made a face at his brother's back and soundlessly stalked out of the room. He paused for a second and, over his shoulder, blew a quiet raspberry.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -  
"Hey, wook!" Kenny exclaimed. "Way has a mewmaid daww!" He held up the painted white mermaid in a pruned hand.

"Yay!" Max cried cheerfully. "I with my mommy would let me play with mermaid dollth like Ray'th daddy doeth."

Kenny's pruned hand happily swished the doll underneath the water with a long 'wooooosh'. "You be the Daddy mewmaid and I'ww be the Mommy mewmaid!"

"Thure!"

The two boys continued to play, despite that they were both rapidly on their way to becoming water-raisins in quickly cooling bathwater.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -  
"Maybe Mister Garland DID bury him under the rose bushes," Ray chirped, sad that the pile of cookies had disappeared. "It's too quiet."

"I'm bored," Kai uttered, shifting in his seat. "It's been a long, long, long time."

"KAI!" a painfully familiar voice cried from the doorway, causing Kai to cringe. "I missed you! Didya miss me?"

"No, go away," Kai told Tyson, disappointed to see that he was alive. It had been entertaining to try and figure out how he was killed and where the body was hidden.

"Well I missed you lots!" Tyson stated, running up to Kai and wrapping his arms around him.

"ACK! DON'T TOUCH ME!" Kai tried to push the boy away, only to find, to his dismay, that Tyson had more arms than an octopus. He figured that his only option would be to hit him hard then run, but Garland had told them to stay where they were. What was a poor boy to do?

To make matters worse, Tyson cried, "Love ya, Kai!" And planted a big, slobbery kiss on his cheek.

Kai burst into tears.

"Look what you did!" Ray shouted. "You're bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, Tyson Granger!"

"I am not!" Tyson protested, clumsily patting Kai in the back despite the other boy's attempts to swat his hand away.

"Are too!" Ray countered.

"Am not!"

"Are too!"

"Am not!"

"Are too!"

"Am not!"

"CHILDREN!" boomed Garland's voice from the doorway. The rousing roar of his voice shocked all three children. They had never heard their babysitters so angry! "Would you PLEASE stop?"

Kai pointed a shaky finger at Tyson and tried to explain what had happened, but he was sobbing so violently that nobody could understand what he was saying. Tyson continued to awkwardly pat Kai on the back, despite his efforts to push him away, which caused muffled cries of frustration amongst the blubbering.

It was bad enough for Kai to be kissed by someone. It was worse knowing that that person was Tyson Granger. It was the worst to be SEEN crying. The absolute epitome of degradation, however, was to have Tyson Granger TOUCHING him as he cried. There was only one thing that could make this whole situation worse.

"KAI!" shouted Hilary from behind Garland's legs with her hair still entangled in an awkward frame around her wide-eyed face. "Why are you crying like that? I'll make it all better!" With that, she sprinted past Garland up to Kai, planted a wet kiss on the boy's other cheek, and blew Tyson a raspberry.

"I WANT MY GRAMPA!" Kai wailed at the top of his lungs.

At Garland's initial shout, Ray had begun to tear up as well, and for the moment, all Garland could do was stand in the doorway in open-mouthed horror as he helplessly watched two of the best children bawling, two of the worst tugging Kai helplessly by each arm, and the remaining two…

"Oh no!" Garland yelped suddenly. "They're still in the TUB!"

Hurrying forward, he grabbed Tyson by the arm despite his squirming and picked him up. He then reached over and grasped Hilary, who screeched "I'M A LADY!" and bit him on the wrist in return. With the two troublemakers in tow, Garland charged out of the kitchen.

"MAX, KENNY! GET OUT OF THE TUB!" he called through the closed bathroom door.

"Aw, Mither Garland," Max whined.

"We'we not done scwubbing each othew's backs!"

"OUT OF THE TUB!" he repeated as he toted the kicking and screaming Tyson and Hilary up the steps. "BROOKLYN!"

Before the other babysitter could reply, Garland towed the two shrieking children into the newly cleaned bedroom and set them onto the bed. Brooklyn had successfully laid new white sheets on the queen-sized bed, and the carpet had dried. (Although, Brooklyn SWORE he could still see faint orange and red splotches.)

"Now then," Garland strained tiredly. "You are going to listen to us."

"Ladies don't get yelled at!" Hilary stated haughtily. Sitting next to her, Tyson hung his head guiltily. He didn't know what he had done wrong, but the babysitters were upset and yelling at him. It was almost enough to make HIM cry too!

"Please don't be mad at me," he pleaded in a wavering voice. "I wasn't being bad. Honest!"

"I know you don't mean to be bad, Tyson," Brooklyn sighed.

"You just can't help it," Garland muttered next to him.

"It's bedtime now," Brooklyn continued. "Hilary, I want you to sleep on the left side of the bed, and, Tyson, I want you to sleep on the right side."

The two children quieted temporarily as they stared, horrified, at Brooklyn.

"You mean we gotta go to bed NOW?" Tyson asked, mortified.

"I can't share a bed with a BOY!" Hilary protested, even more mortified. "Ladies DON'T do that!"

"Yes," Garland said in exasperation. "You have to go to bed right now. NO, you don't have to share a bed with a boy," he turned to Tyson, "Or a girl. There's an invisible wall that makes it two beds. And if you touch the wall, it disappears. So, just stay on your side of the wall and you won't be sharing a bed. Got it?"

Hilary immediately turned to Tyson and glared. "If you break the invisible wall, I'll smack you," she warned.

"I wouldn't touch that wall if you paid me!" Tyson shouted. "I don't want your nasty cooties."

"Fine, whatever," Brooklyn said, feeling his headache beginning to return. "But no talking. And no smacking. And before you think of doing anything else, don't do that either. Just lay there and sleep." Giving Garland a curt nod, the two of them lifted Hilary and Tyson to their respective sides of the bed. "Don't move and don't talk. Just sleep. Understand?"

"Yes, Mister Brooklyn," two thoroughly unhappy children chorused.

"I'm still gonna tell my daddy on all of you," Hilary added angrily.

"No talking until he gets here," Garland chimed, waving a finger admonishingly. Hilary opened her mouth to stay something, but Garland gave her a firm look. The two babysitters left the room and closed the door behind them, missing Hilary and Tyson stick their tongues out at each other.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -  
Finally finished with putting the toys back, with no help from Tyson whatsoever, Hiro stood up and stretched his aching legs. He'd heard some commotion coming from all wings of the house, but figuring that Garland and Brooklyn could do the job just fine, he left it alone. Standing back and surveying his handiwork, Hiro nodded his approval and turned to Tyson with a stern look.

Only, Tyson wasn't there.

"…" Hiro stared at the empty bed. He could have sworn that he had left Tyson there, but thinking back, he DID think it strange for the young boy to be so quiet. "…oops," was all he could say as he left the room.

"I don't undewstand why Mistew Gawwand got so cwanky at us," he heard Kenny's voice say as he neared the guest bedroom.

"He'th very odd, Mither Garland," Max agreed.

Hiro knocked gently on the door. "How are you two doing in there?" he asked as he opened the door.

"Fine, Mistew Hiwo!" Kenny answered cheerily, pulling his teddy-bear clad pajama top over his still wet torso.

"Good," Hiro replied. It was such a relief for him to know that not all children were like Tyson and Hilary. "You guys keep being good. I have to go stand watch while Kai takes a bath now."

"Don't wook, Mistew Hiwo!" Kenny warned. "If you wook at Kai when he's taking a bath, he'ww be vewy upset!"

Max nodded his agreement and climbed into the bed with his smiling turtle pajamas. "Yeth, that would be terrible!"

As the thought of this challenge crept its way into Hiro's head, the two little boys snuggled under the covers. As soon as the two little water-raisins were tucked into bed, he left the guest room for the kitchen as the hushed sounds of two little boys playing under the covers with smuggled mermaid dolls faded behind him.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -  
"Time for your bath, Kai," Hiro announced, entering the kitchen as Kai wiped away the last trace of tears from his face.

"Mister Garland told us to stay right here," Kai croaked in a hoarse voice.

"It's okay, Kai," Hiro assured him. "And Brooklyn will be here shortly for your bath, Ray. Okay?"

"Okay," Kai conceded as he jumped off the chair and rubbed the back of his legs where the chair had left a fading impression.

Hiro led Kai into the master bedroom with the intention of letting the boy use the bathroom there. Kai immediately stopped in his tracks as soon as he saw the room's two current occupants.

"I can't take a bath in there!" he hissed. "They'll look at me!"

"They won't look at you," Hiro reassured confidently.

"Yes they will!"

"Look, they're sleeping."

"They're only pretending to sleep!" he protested, pointing a small, accusatory finger in the direction of the bed, which housed his two tormentors.

"I am not!" Hilary yelped.

"Shut up!" Tyson snarled. "Mister Garland will get mad if he hears us talking!"

"See?" Kai pouted. "I'm not taking my clothes off if they're gonna be in here."

Hiro rolled his eyes. "Just go in the bathroom and take your bath. I'll stand out here and make sure they don't look, okay?"

"You promise?"

"I promise."

"You swear?"

"On my honor."

"You sure?"

"…Stop stalling and get in there."

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -  
"…And the white mermaid, and the white ducky, and the shark, except he's not white, but that's okay!" Ray told Brooklyn happily. "He'll be under the bubbles and I won't have to look at him!"

"That's right," Brooklyn told him evenly. "You won't have to see him at all!" Once he and Garland had successfully gotten Tyson and Hilary tucked in for the night, the two of them separated; Garland had gone to check on the sheets in the wash, and Brooklyn made his way to the kitchen for Ray's bath. When he had arrived, the boy was cheerfully swinging his legs over the side of the chair waiting for bath time.

As soon as Brooklyn entered the doorway, the boy promptly ran to the bathroom, stripping his clothes on the way. The Kon boy had no concept of modesty.

Once Brooklyn brought himself to the bathroom, he lifted Ray and placed the boy into the freshly run bathwater. "I'm going to wash your hair now, okay?"

"Okay!" Ray said, playing with the white mermaid doll under the water as Brooklyn shampooed the long, dark mane.

Listening to the sounds of a happy boy at play, Brooklyn thanked his lucky stars that there was only one Hilary and one Tyson, and that he had not been the one to bathe either one.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -  
Taking a deep breath, Garland tentatively peered inside the washer at the white sheets. Nothing, nada, zip. The spaghetti stains were out, but there was still the faintest of red marks.

What was he going to do now? He had, rather unfortunately, pre-soaked the sheets before Coach Boris had told Brooklyn to pre-treat them. He had poured the half-cup of bleach as per his instructions, but for a reason he could not even begin to fathom, the sheets just flat out refused to whiten.

What was a fourteen year old boy to do in this type of situation? He had never in his life had to clean make up off of anything, let alone pure white bedsheets.

Garland picked up the bottle of bleach and wondered to himself. If half a cup of bleach didn't do the job, how about if he added a full cup this time? If at first you don't succeed, try try again, he thought.

Looking around, he realized that the measuring cup was missing and thought that maybe it had rolled away after the first helping of bleach. Shrugging it off nonchalantly, Garland estimated the amount as he poured.

"That looks like one cup to me," he said, replacing the cap on the bottle.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -  
Hiro waited patiently by the door as the grey-haired little boy took his bath on the other side. He was glad that the master bedroom was constructed the way it was, with the bathroom and changing area separated from the rest of the bedroom by a wall. If Hilary and Tyson stayed on their side, then nobody would be the wiser.

The blue-haired babysitter faced an internal dilemma; to look or not to look. He understood that Kai really didn't want anybody to look at him, but it was just such an irresistible challenge and, after all, he was Tyson the typhoon's brother. The same blood ran which ran through Tyson's veins ran through Hiro's and, as his parents can attest to, when Hiro was Tyson's age, he had the same troublemaking streak, if not worse.

Besides, he had promised Kai that he wouldn't let anyone peek. He hadn't necessarily promised to not peek himself.

He waited until the sound of water running could be heard and quietly opened the door a crack behind him. Kai was just peeling off his pants and laying it on top of his carefully folded scarf. He was completely unaware of his audience. Hiro watched until the naked boy climbed into the bath before soundlessly closed the door and returning to duty.

Hiro smiled slyly to himself. Mission accomplished.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -  
Brooklyn turned off and set down the hairdryer. He ran a comb through Ray's hair and smiled when the little boy flung his arms around his neck. "Thank you, Mister Brooklyn," he said appreciatively. "I app.. app… I'm glad you did that."

"You're welcome, Ray," Brooklyn replied, smiling. "Let's get you into your pajamas. What would you like to wear? We have white… and white!"

"Silly, Mister Brooklyn!" Ray said giggling. "White! Can we watch a movie now? Kai said '300' is a good one!"

"We are not watching that one," Brooklyn told him as he pulled the white pajama top over Ray's slightly damp skin, shuddering slightly at the thought. "How about 'Aladdin'?"

"I like Aladdin," Ray said, his speech slightly muffled as his head popped through the collar and Brooklyn helped put on his white underwear and pajama bottoms. "I especially like the tiger."

"I'll tell you what," Brooklyn said as he and Ray exited the bathroom. "I'll tuck you in first, and then I'll go check if Kai is done. And then the both of you can watch 'Aladdin' in your room. How does that sound?"

"Sounds good!" the little boy agreed with a laugh.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -  
After several moments of what sounded like obligatory splashing, Hiro heard the water drain from the tub. The door opened, revealing a damp but clean little boy dressed in dark blue footsie pajamas with a flap in the back.

"Cute," Hiro commented, which earned him a glare.

"Done," Kai told him, not particularly amused at being called 'cute.' "Don't touch the flap."

"I won't, I promise."

"Good." With that said, Kai started to walk past Hiro.

"But you're not done," Hiro told him. The boy turned around and he indicated at his hair. "You still haven't combed your hair."

"Yes I did," Kai protested.

"No, you didn't."

"Did too."

"Did not."

"Did too."

"Did not."

"Did too."

"Look, I can clearly tell that you didn't comb your hair yet," Hiro pointed out as he reached into the bathroom and picked up the comb from the counter. "Come here and stand still," he said as he steered Kai over by the arm, trying to resist the tempting back flap. Kai scowled as the comb was dragged through his messy grey-hair and forced it down into a nice, neat style.

And it sprang messily back into place.

"Did too."

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -  
Head set firmly on Brooklyn's shoulder, thumb plopped securely into his mouth, eyes drooping ever-so-slightly. Yes, Ray Kon was a content little boy. He was fighting sleep with every ounce of power he could muster. Brooklyn was going to let him and Kai watch a movie, and he did not want to miss that.

Everything was nice and, finally, calm.

Until Brooklyn switched on the light in Ray's room.

"WAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Ray cried, outraged. His room was entirely white, and all his toys were put away, tucked nice and neatly in his shelf. Everything in his room was arranged carefully.

In the wrong order. In an order in which Ray certainly did not approve.

"You let TYSON in here!" he yelled, eyes beginning to blur with tears. "My room is a mess! A MESS! And I bet you let him have my BLUE CRAYON!"

"Ray…" Brooklyn cooed, setting the wailing boy on his white bedding and patting his back soothingly. "Everything's put away neatly, see? It's all in order."

"NO IT'S NOT!" Ray bawled. He wiped his eyes and pointed to his shelf accordingly, sobbing, "My ducky goes in the third cubby, and my tiger goes in the first, and…"

Exasperatedly, Brooklyn set himself in front of the bookshelf and rearranged everything according to Ray's hysteric instructions. He really wished that Hiro had chosen another part time job for them. Unfortunately for Brooklyn, not too many companies were willing to hire a teenager as president.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -  
Garland gave a happy sigh of relief as he stood back to take in his handiwork at once. He had finally managed to clean the white, granite countertops of any spaghetti, or otherwise, stains. He never really had a good chance to take a look at the kitchen with all the commotion from earlier, but upon closer inspection, it actually was a nice place for cooking and otherwise. If Garland had known how to cook anything other than eggs and bacon, he would have enjoyed the kitchen much more.

This thought about food made him realize that him realize how thirsty he was, and how absolutely lost his appetite was after dealing with Tyson and Hilary. Rummaging through the refrigerator, he pulled out the apple juice and poured himself a cup.

"WAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

"NOOO!" Garland cried as he watched his apple juice spill over the sides of the counter to the floor. He frowned deeply. "I spilled." How embarrassing would it have been if Hiro and Brooklyn had caught him like this?

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -  
"It's all your fault we don't get to see the movie," Hilary hissed in a hushed voice at Tyson.

"No, it's yours!" Tyson hissed back.

"No, it's your fault!"

"No, it's yours!"

"Yours!"

"Yours!"

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -  
"Did you brush your teeth?" Hiro asked.

"Yes. I said I was done." Kai gave Hiro a defiant look and crossed his arms.

"Look, it was a reasonable question."

"Are you going to try brushing my teeth for me too?" Kai asked sarcastically. His head still ached from Hiro's poor attempts at combing his hair.

After the failure of the first attempt at combing Kai's hair, Hiro had tried a second time to force the thick mass of hair flat. The comb had somehow gotten firmly tangled in Kai's still wet bangs, and when it was finally pulled free, it managed to take a good amount of grey hair with it. Thankfully for Hiro, this child wasn't a screamer when it came to tangles.

"Do I need to?"

"No," Kai answered with a scowl so deep that it turned into a full-on pout. "I want to keep my teeth in my head."

Hiro remained silent. He didn't know how to reply to something like that; after all, the kid had a legitimate gripe. "Look," he finally said after a while. "Let's get you settled in Ray's room. Brooklyn said you guys could watch a movie."

"'300?'" Kai asked wistfully.

"Uh, I don't know," Hiro replied, a little concerned at the thought of a child Kai's age watching such a gory movie. He grabbed a hold of Kai's hand and led him to Ray's room.

Kai, excited about the prospect of watching his movie, forgot to protest about being touched.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -  
"And the white firetruck goes in that cubby," Ray told Brooklyn, pointing to a specific hole next to the one Brooklyn had taken the firetruck from. "But it goes all the way in the corner! Not that corner, the other corner! And then the airplane goes next to that…"

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -  
"Thththththththth…" snored a sleeping Max.

"Pbbbbbbbbwwwwwwt…." snored Kenny next to him.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -  
"Yours!"

"YOURS!"

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -  
"I hate spills…" Garland muttered under his breath.

He should have never let Hiro con him into taking care of six little kids for a whole night.

(To be continued.)  
And that's the end of part 4! I hope you guys liked that one, too! Let me know what you think! :) Constructive criticism is always welcome!


	5. Chapter 5

**Special thanks to all my avid readers out there! I love you guys! (: Also, I haven't decided whether or not to give Brooklyn, Garland, and Hiro another job, but maybe... Hmm... Do you guys think I should?**

**Misadventures in Babysitting  
**by Rawr It's Kizami

The First Job: New Year's Eve  
Part Five

Once Hiro and Kai arrived at Ray's room, every toy, save for the white spinny-top in Brooklyn's hands, was in it's correct order. As Hiro quickly tucked in Kai next to Ray in the bed, the little Chinese boy pointed a tiny finger passionately in the direction of the desk as if saying, 'there, there! Put it over there!'

As soon as the spinny-top was correctly placed in its spot, Ray visibly relaxed from his frenzy. Everything was finally in a spot of which he heartily approved, and that made him a happy, happy child. Of course, Brooklyn had decided to not mention the page in the coloring book that was now entirely blue nor the broken crayons in the box, but to the tired babysitter, those were just details that he supposed could be dealt with later.

Now that the house was finally quiet, he popped in the movie and pressed play.

"HEY!" Kai protested, distraught. "THAT'S NOT '300'!"

"It's 'Aladdin'," Ray told him, eyes growing droopier and droopier with each passing moment. "I like Aladdin. He has a monkey and there's a tiger in it. Only, I wish Jasmine was a boy instead. Then she wouldn't have cooties."

Brooklyn chuckled to himself as he imagined Princess Jasmine as Prince Jasper and gently tucked in the sleepy Ray. Hiro mirrored his actions with Kai and the two babysitters silently retreated to the living room.

"I'd rather watch '300'," Kai mumbled as Aladdin ran through the streets of Agrabah with the guards chasing after him. As much as he tried to fight sleep, it was a battle he could not win, and Kai drifted off into a dream where three hundred Spartans were chasing Aladdin through Agrabah.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -  
Brooklyn, Garland, and Hiro reunited at the living room, each completely wiped out from the evening. Garland did not care to see another paper towel for as long as he lived, Brooklyn would never look at his hair color the same way again, and Hiro hoped from the bottom of his heart that they would at least get a good night's sleep.

But with all the room's taken, where was a babysitter to sleep?

One couch, a love seat, and a recliner.

"Well, take your pick, boys," Garland quipped, gesturing to their three choices.

Brooklyn immediately collapsed into the nearest piece of furniture; the love seat. Hiro stifled a sigh and took it upon himself to sleep in the recliner; after all, he was the one that had gotten them here in the first place. Finally, Garland laid himself down onto the couch.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -  
Kai's eyes flew open suddenly. There was a strange, yet at the same time oddly familiar, wet and warm sensation slowly spreading on his back. He sat up promptly as the situation hit him like a ton of bricks.

He couldn't believe it! He had wet the bed! And to make matters worse, he had wet his friend's bed! And he STILL had to go potty!

His eyes began to swell up with tears that he wiped away hastily. What was he going to do now? He felt so embarrassed and Ray was fast asleep and he wouldn't dare wake the sleeping boy up and…

His tears stopped. There was something different about this. Upon a quick inspection of his bottoms, Kai realized that his back was wet, not his front. This only meant one thing.

"Ray?" he called in a slightly shaky voice.

"I… I'm s-s-sorry!" a voice hiccuped. Ray turned to face Kai with his face drenched with tears. "I d-d-didn't m-m-mean to w-w-w-w-wet the b-bed!" he sobbed fretfully. "D-d-daddy always c-c-comes to w-wake me up so I d-don't have an assident."

"It's okay," Kai said soothingly. "I have assidents sometimes too. I can fix this."

Ray wiped his eyes. "You can?"

"First we gotta change the sheets," Kai told him.

The two boys scrambled out of the bed thankfully. The wet spot was starting to get cold, and when they left the comfort of the blankets, they felt even colder and clammier.

"How did you learn this?" Ray asked as the two of them quickly removed the white sheets from his bed, revealing the rubber underneath. He blushed sheepishly. "Sometimes Daddy's late."

"Don't worry," Kai told him soothingly. "Grandfather taught me. He's a really old Dad, so he knows lots of stuff."

"Dads are really smart," Ray agreed. "I want to be one when I grow up."

"Me too," Kai said, bundling the sheets into a giant, white ball. "That's a good thing to be."

Ray nodded as Kai pulled new sheets and a comforter out from the closet. He tugged one corner of the sheets under the corner of the mattress as Ray did the same with the opposite side. They moved onto the lower corners and quickly tugged those until the sheets were nice and tight. Kai tossed the new comforter over the new sheets and moved toward the dirty pile next to the bed.

"Wait," Ray said before Kai could pick up the soiled sheets. The sensation on his pajamas was starting to get really uncomfortable. He promptly stripped his white pajamas and piled them onto the bundle. "Okay."

Kai nodded and picked up the pile of white. With stealth and covertness, Kai and Ray snuck quickly to the laundry room, where Kai dropped the bundle in front of the washing machine triumphantly.

"There," Kai said. "Fixed!" He shared a small smile, which consisted of a faint tugging at the corners of his lips, with Ray and snuck back to the bedroom.

Once they returned, Kai instinctively crossed his legs tightly. He still had to potty! The cold sensation on his back just made him have to go more.

As Ray finished pulling on new pajamas (white, of course), Kai told him, "Don't look."

Surprisingly, Kai had enough trust for Ray to believe that his friend would not look while he changed. With intense speed, Kai stripped off his footsie pajamas and put on the shirt and white pants he had worn yesterday from the pile of clothes on the floor. "Okay, you can look again."

Ray turned around and climbed back into bed, snuggling into the scent of fabric softener that the fresh, new comforter offered.

"I'll be right back," Kai announced before sprinting quietly out into the hallway and dashing into the bathroom. After relieving himself, he ran back into the room and returned to his spot in the bed.

"Thank you, Kai," Ray whispered. "I'm sorry I wetted you. You're my best friend."

"You're my best friend, too," Kai replied, sleepy. "Thank you for not looking."

With the accident fixed, the children fell asleep almost immediately.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -  
As dawn broke, Brooklyn's dream of being the president of his own architecture firm was quickly interrupted as two loud, ear-shattering twin screams echoed throughout the house.

"WAHHHHH!"

The three babysitters charged to the source of the shrieks: the master bedroom. They flung open the door and saw Hilary and Tyson laying in a mess of tangled arms and legs.

"You broke the invisible wall!" Hilary wailed amidst her violent sobs. "I'm telling my DADDY on you!"

"NO, YOU broke the wall!" Tyson protested through tears of his own. Now he was infected with cooties! No amount of scrubbing would ever be able to rid him of these.

"YOU GAVE ME COOTIES!" the two children shrieked tearfully.

Garland and Brooklyn detangled the two crying children from one another as Hiro left to check on the other sleeping children. It was much too early in the morning to be dealing with Tyson and Hilary.

"Hush!" Garland growled suddenly, causing two pairs of shimmering eyes to watch him fearfully. "I'll put some cootie medicine in your breakfasts, okay? And then you won't have them anymore."

Tyson considered the matter for a moment and when he was finished, promptly wrapped his arms around Garland's arm in a thankful embrace.

He supposed it wouldn't be so bad as long as he ate the medicine.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -  
Yawning, Garland stifled a scowl as he opened the washing machine. He couldn't even begin to understand why someone would want to have an entirely white bedroom. As he, Brooklyn and Hiro learned painfully last night, it just took too much work to keep clean.

It was time for the moment of truth. With the top propped up, Garland tentatively peered inside.

Much to his horror, not only were the faded red blotches still apparent, but the ENTIRE white sheet was tinted a pale yellow. Yellow. Garland groaned. Another unfortunate life lesson learned; too much bleach is a bad, bad thing.

He was now left with one final option.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -  
Ray yawned as he walked into the kitchen with his hand held in Hiro's hand. After he and Kai had gotten dressed, Kai refused to leave the room until he had successfully tied his shoes by himself.

He had yet to do just that.

The first thing Ray and Hiro noticed when they entered the kitchen was the smell of bacon and eggs wafting from the stove. Garland stood in front of the stove plating the food before setting it down in front of Tyson, who was sitting across the table from Hilary. The two children glared at each other sleepily.

It was much too early in the morning for them to cause more mischief than the periodic raspberry and sticking out of the tongue.

As soon as Tyson's food was on the table, he stuffed scraps of it into his mouth hungrily. Hiro gently lifted Ray into a seat on the table as Garland returned to cooking.

"Are you sure there's medicine in here?" Tyson asked, his mouth full of eggs.

"Yes," Garland replied tiredly. When Hiro shot him a questioning glance, the silver-haired babysitter picked up the salt shaker next to the stove and smirked.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -  
Kenny stirred in his sleep as Max let out a soft snore next to him.

Brooklyn carefully opened the door, and light from the hallway flooded into the guest room. Kenny sat up and put on his glasses, although Brooklyn couldn't tell whether the glasses helped his vision behind the mess of bangs or not.

"Time for breakfast, you two," he called, gently shaking a smiling-turtle clad shoulder.

"Okay," Max slurred, groggily sitting up. "Thankth, Mither Brooklyn."

Brooklyn nodded as the two boys slowly rose out of bed. "I'm going to check on Kai," he told them as he closed the door and walked to Ray's room.

When he opened the door, he saw Kai sitting on the floor, his little eyebrows furrowed together in deep concentration. He was furiously trying to tie his shoes, but the stubborn footwear just wouldn't knot together for him!

"Do you want some help?" Brooklyn offered.

"No," Kai refused proudly. "I can do it myself."

Shrugging, Brooklyn watched as Kai continued to struggle with his laces. He would attempt to loop them together, but when he pulled to tighten them, they would unsuccessfully separate resulting in quiet sounds of outrage from the small boy.

Finally, after several more failed efforts, Brooklyn just couldn't watch anymore. "Will you let me help you now?" he asked again.

"No!" Kai's tongue stuck out from his mouth slightly as he struggled to tie his shoes after another failed attempt.

"You know," Brooklyn said suddenly, an idea in his head, "those are trick shoelaces."

Kai's hands froze and he stared up at Brooklyn wide-eyed. "What?"

The babysitter nodded. "Yeah. Those can only be tied by someone over ten years old."

Kai gasped. He couldn't believe it! Who would do something like this to him? Certainly not his grandfather. No, it must have been somebody in the house. But who?

"Will you let me tie them now?"

As he nodded and allowed Brooklyn to lace his shoes, Kai formulated a plan. Whoever looked surprised to see him with tied shoes HAD to be the one who gave him the trick laces! Wouldn't they be surprised to see him with tightly tied shoes?

"All done," Brooklyn told him.

"Thank you, Mister Brooklyn," Kai told him as they left the room.

When they reached the kitchen, Garland was hard at work at the stove again with Hiro pouring drinks next to the refrigerator. Tyson, Max, Kenny, Ray, and Hilary sat at the table, and when Kai entered with Brooklyn, they all stopped what they were doing and looked.

"YOU ALL HATE ME!" Kai squalled as he ran to the bathroom.

"Kai!" Hilary called after the retreating boy. She jumped off the chair and ran in the same direction as Tyson sprinted after her.

Ray, deeply concerned for his best friend, jumped from his own seat and started to run toward the bathroom, but once he ran past the table, his ponytail got caught behind his foot and he fell onto his bottom. The sudden pain made him tear up and cry, and at the sight of that, Max jumped off his own chair to comfort the crying boy, but when he jumped, his arm bumped his plate and sent it clattering to the floor, where it landed in several large shards.

Max started to cry next to Ray at the sight of the broken plate and, at the sight of Max crying, Kenny rushed over to the blonde, hugged him, and started crying himself.

Tyson and Hilary, both sobbing hysterically, staggered back to the kitchen at this point blubbering in mostly incoherent speech.

"K-K-Kai s-s-said h-h-he h-hated m-m-me!" Hilary bawled frantically.

"A-and h-h-he w-w-won't c-c-c-c-c-come out!" Tyson added between sobs.

It all happened so quickly. Brooklyn stood in the doorway of the kitchen, completely stupefied, Garland gaped at the scene from the stove with the spatula still clasped firmly in his fist, and Hiro held a bottle of nearly empty apple juice in front of an open refrigerator.

They all shared one thought: How were they going to get themselves out of THIS one?

Suddenly, a horde of wary parents bursted through the front door, and each of the crying children held out their arms as their respective parents picked them into their arms.

"I h-hurt my b-bottom," Ray softly sputtered as his father picked him up and looked towards the panicking babysitters, who were now huddled together in front of the stove helplessly.

"They all just started crying…" Garland started to say.

"Because Kai was crying," Ray added from his father's arms.

"I *hic* stawted crying *hic* cause I saw *hic* Max crying," Kenny sobbed to his mother.

"I *hic* b-broke the *hic* p-p-p-plate," Max hiccuped as his mother gave him a tight squeeze.

"Everything is fine, Maxie," Mrs. Tate told her son soothingly as she patted his head. "You boys are going to stop crying right now, okay?"

Immediately, Max and Kenny stopped their sobbing and crying. Why hadn't they thought of that? Garland wondered to himself as the abrupt smell of something burning clouded his senses. He quickly turned off the stove and watched as Hilary's mother and father cooed over her.

"Wahhh!" she cried, hugging her mother tightly. "Mommy! The babysitters were mean to me! They tangled my hair! And put me in the corner! And made me sleep with a BOY!"

"Becauthe you made a methh!" Max pointed out.

"Yeah!" Kenny agreed, nodding emphatically. "You got sauce in youw haiw! You can't bwame Mistew Gawwand for that!"

Tyson gave an outcry of anguish amongst his sobs. "She gave me cooties!" he cried to his parents, pointing an extremely shaky finger at Hilary. "She broke the invisible wall! I need my anti-cootie medicine!"

"Where's Kai?" Kai's grandfather asked in an unwaveringly authoritative tone.

"He locked himself in the bathroom!" Tyson wailed.

With a curt nod, Kai's grandfather walked toward the bathroom wondering where his grandson's paranoia came from, as Ray's parents approached the three babysitters.

"Seems like you three had quite the ordeal last night," Mrs. Kon said with Ray, who had stopped crying and was currently decidedly happy, perched on her hip.

"We apologize about any trouble the kids might have given you," Mr. Kon told them, giving his son's hair a nice ruffle and turning to Brooklyn. "Your mother really knows how to have a dinner party."

Brooklyn gave a nervous laugh. "Thank… you?"

As Hiro knelt down to clean up the broken plate, the kitchen began to quiet down and Kai's discussion with his grandfather could be heard clearly.

"Kai?"

"Grandfather?"

"Are you coming out?"

"No!"

"Come out of there right now. It's time to go home."

The door could be heard squeaking open, and moments later, Kai's grandfather returned to the kitchen with Kai perched happily on his shoulders. He'd like to see Hilary and Tyson just TRY to reach him up there!

As Mr. Kon handed each of the babysitters their share of the payment, Ray nuzzled up against his mother's shoulder and said, "I like Mister Garland, Mister Brooklyn, and Mister Hiro. I wish they would babysit more."

As his parents chuckled at his cuteness, the three babysitters slightly paled at the idea of having another night like the one before.

Tyson, whose tears had successfully dried up, looked at his parents and declared proudly, "I didn't destroy anything! Hilary was worse than me! Ask Hiro!"

"Uh…" As his parents looked at him skeptically for some kind of rebuttal to Tyson's claim, Hiro couldn't help but think that it was true; Hilary did indeed make a bigger mess. But then again, Tyson had made a mess in both the kitchen and Ray's bedroom. "He didn't break anything," Hiro conceded finally.

"Can we go home now?" Max asked groggily with a sleepy head laid comfortingly on his mother's shoulder.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -  
Garland staggered in the front door of his home with the money clenched tightly in his fist, and the damp, yellow bed sheet firmly tucked under his free arm.

"Garland!" his mother called, bursting through the kitchen entryway. "I'm so glad you're home!"

"I'm glad, too, mother," he replied tiredly.

"What's that, dear?" she asked, pointing a spatula at the sheet.

"Do you know how to re-whiten a yellowed bed sheet?"

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -  
Brooklyn sighed loudly and closed the front door behind him. That had been the longest night of his life.

"I'm home!" he called groggily.

"Brooklyn!" Mrs. Kingston hurried up to her son and gave him a warm kiss on the cheek. "I'm so glad you're home, son."

"Me too, mother," he replied tiredly, starting to head up the stairs.

"Oh, hold on a second!" His mother grasped his shoulders and pulled him back as she told him, "I need you to help me clean up the house now, son."

Brooklyn's expression visibly paled. "But-"

"Now, now, dear," she said softly, wiggling her finger. "I'm sure you had fun last night babysitting and hanging out with Garland and Hiro, but now you're going to need to do some real chores, Brooklyn."

His face now supported a full on pout as Mrs. Kingston handed him a mop. "Mother?"

"Yes, dear?" she answered, spraying Windex on the front window.

"I really hope you don't still want grandchildren."

"Why's that, hon?"

"Because I am NEVER having kids."

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -  
Hiro groaned audibly as he collapsed face-first onto his bed. It felt so relaxing to be able to finally be in his own home where there was only one child.

Unfortunately for Hiro, that one child was Tyson.

"Hiro, Hiro, Hiro!"

Hiro grunted tiredly and faced his tormentor. "What?"

"That was a WICKED night!" Tyson exclaimed, throwing his hands into the air emphatically. "I had SO much fun! Except for getting cooties from Hilary!"

"…"

"Let's do it again! I'm gonna ask mom and dad if we can have a sleepover here next time!"

Mortified, Hiro watched in horror as his younger brother bounded out of his room. The next thing he knew, the little boy's voice echoed throughout the house.

"MOM!"

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -  
The end! (:

I hope you guys enjoyed it! Personally, I don't think this is one of my best chapters, but I do hope you guys liked it!


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